The historic exhibition staged as part of our Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002 aroused a great deal of local interest. Some of the information has been incorporated into the map and will also be used in the VDS document.

Encouraged by residents’ interest in the history of North End, we decided to continue with our research in order to expand the exhibition. Most of our information so far has come from the Essex Record Office where we have accessed census returns, tithe maps and the SEAX database to search the archive for relevant documents. We are hoping to link some Great Waltham parish records to census information and have begun to record the reminiscences of elderly residents who have lived much of their lives in this area.

We have also managed to acquire a number of interesting old photographs. Blackchapel is a mediaeval chapel with adjoining priest’s house dating from the 15th century. One theory is that it was an outpost of Leez Priory and that its name came from the black capes worn by the monks who were known as ‘Black Canons’.

We have discovered that the poet Ruth Pitter, born in 1898 and winner of the Hawthorndon Prize for Literature and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, once lived in North End with her sister. Ruth Pitter’s love of gardening and the countryside are reflected in her poems.